Faced with the mess in her heart, Terumi Mei's eyes wavered for the first time.
She did not want to admit it.
Did not want to admit that somewhere along the way, she had really started falling for him.
But the tight ache in her chest would not let her lie to herself anymore.
Seeing how conflicted she looked, Namikaze Kirito stopped teasing her and finally spoke seriously.
"Tsunade is important to me."
The moment he said that, Mei's face lost even more color.
For a second, it felt like the air had been ripped right out of her lungs.
Still, she forced herself to stand tall.
"Oh, is that so?" she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "Then congratulations. I wish you both happiness."
Her lips curled, but there was no warmth in it.
"So what does that make all those things you told me before? The promise you made? Were you just saying whatever sounded good at the time?"
Kirito looked at her calmly.
"No. I meant what I said."
Mei's expression cracked.
"You're really saying that to my face?" she snapped. "You're with Lady Tsunade, and you still expect me to believe you weren't playing with me?"
That was it.
The wall she had been holding up finally broke.
Her voice rose, and the frustration she had been keeping buried came pouring out at once.
Her cheeks were flushed now, not from embarrassment, but from anger.
Kirito did not look away.
"Tsunade was there for me from the beginning," he said quietly. "She matters to me. I'm not going to throw that away."
Every word landed cleanly with no hesitation or excuses in them.
And somehow that hurt even more.
Mei laughed once, but it came out hollow.
"Right. Of course." She turned away and walked to the door. "Then go to her."
She pulled it open and stepped to the side.
"I'm done talking."
Kirito watched her for a moment, then stood and walked out without another word.
The door slammed shut behind him.
The sound echoed through the room.
Mei stood there breathing hard, until suddenly she felt something wet run down her cheek.
She froze.
Slowly, she lifted a hand and touched her face.
When she looked at her fingers, they were damp.
"…I'm crying?"
She stared at them blankly, almost like she did not understand what she was seeing.
She had gone through the Bloody Mist.
Fought her way through Kirigakure's madness.
Clawed her way to the top and became the Fifth Mizukage.
Later, she stood beside Kirito as one of the Twelve Elders.
She had bled, fought, and survived more than most people could even imagine.
No matter how badly she had been hurt before, she had never cried.
Not once.
And yet now, after coming to Konoha…
After getting close to that man…
She was crying over him.
At that point, denying it had become meaningless.
Mei slowly sank down where she stood, covering her face as silent tears slipped through her fingers.
Sunlight stretched across the floor, casting her shadow clearly onto the ground.
And beside it…
Another shadow appeared.
At some point, Kirito had come back.
He stood there behind her in silence, watching her without a word.
Mei noticed him and quickly pushed herself back up, wiping at her face.
Her voice shook despite her efforts to hide it.
"What now?" she asked without turning around. "Did Lady Tsunade throw you back out?"
The next second, warmth wrapped around her.
Kirito had pulled her into his arms.
Mei's breath caught.
"You…" Her voice trembled. "What are you doing?"
She clenched her hands tightly.
"You already have Tsunade… so why are you doing this to me?"
Kirito did not answer.
He only held her tighter.
That silence should have made her angrier.
Instead, it made the tears fall harder.
Neither of them spoke for a long time.
Eventually, Mei steadied herself and pulled back from his arms.
Then she turned and glared at him, eyes still red.
"This is your fault."
And before Kirito could respond, she grabbed him and kissed him.
It was sudden enough to catch even him off guard.
But only for a moment.
When Mei finally stepped back, there was a smear of blood on her lips.
Kirito's lip had been bitten open, a few drops of blood still visible there.
With his body, it would heal almost instantly.
But Mei did not care about that.
Her eyes were locked on him now, fierce and unyielding.
"I don't care about Lady Tsunade," she said, voice shaking but firm. "You made me a promise. So you're not getting out of it."
Kirito looked at her for a second, then smiled faintly.
"All right."
That simple answer hit Mei harder than anything else he had said.
A moment ago, she had braced herself for rejection.
Now, the knot in her chest finally loosened.
At last, the two of them had made their feelings clear.
Mei opened her mouth to say something else—
But suddenly, a sharp alarm rang out through Konoha.
She clicked her tongue in irritation, then lowered her voice.
"Go."
Kirito gave a small nod.
"…Yeah."
And in the next instant, he disappeared.
At the entrance to Konoha, a dark-skinned man in red armor stood waiting.
The strange thing was that his otherwise upright, dignified face was covered in cracks.
When Orochimaru arrived and saw him, surprise flashed through his eyes.
Then a meaningful smile slowly spread across his face.
"Impure World Reincarnation…"
Even the First Hokage had been brought out.
"So the Akatsuki are finally making their move."
…
A gust of wind swept across the village gate as Namikaze Minato and Namikaze Kirito appeared side by side.
Father and son.
The moment they saw the figure standing there, both of them paused.
There was no one in Konoha who would fail to recognize the face of the First Hokage.
Especially not its higher-ups.
"Hahaha! Konoha's grown into quite the village!"
Senju Hashirama laughed loudly, just as openly and freely as the legends described.
He had been dragged back from the Pure Land through the Impure World Reincarnation.
Moments later, another figure appeared beside him.
White hair. Blue armor. The same cracked skin.
Senju Tobirama.
The Second Hokage.
The two brothers stood together at Konoha's gates, looking upon the village they had once built with their own hands.
At first, there was relief in their eyes.
Then came the worry.
"Lord First. Lord Second."
As always, Minato was the first to speak in a calm and respectful tone.
Hashirama looked at him with interest.
"So you're the Fourth Hokage?"
Before arriving, both Hashirama and Tobirama had already heard from Sarutobi Asuma about the current state of the ninja world.
And after hearing what Namikaze Kirito had done, even they had been left stunned.
A unified ninja world.
And on top of that, Kirito possessed Hashirama's Wood Style.
Even knowing Asuma and the others were clearly plotting something, the two brothers had no way to resist this summoning.
This Impure World Reincarnation was different.
It was stronger.
Hashirama's cells had been added to reinforce it, and beyond that, there was another power mixed into it altogether.
Because of that, neither of them could break free.
--------------------------------------
Support me at patreon.com/Arthorain and read upto 50 Advanced Chapters and R-18 Content!
--------------------------------------
Update schedule: 7 chapters/week
Every 200 power stones = 1 Extra Chapter
By voting with [power stones], you can easily get double the number of chapters.